Researchers of Latvia’s history were shocked to find that documents associated with activities of KGB branch of Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic were gone from court archives, says chairman of the research committee in charge of analysing KGB documents Kārlis Kangeris.

On Wednesday, 8 November, Riga District Court refused to provide information to the committee, saying that papers detailing possible cooperation of LSSR Supreme Council Chairman Ivars Godmanis with KGB are no longer found in the archive.

Latvian National Archive representative Māra Sprūdža has informed the committee that the request to check if the case is stored in the archive was sent to LNA Sigulda’s branch office, which stores documents from Riga District Court. However, the possibility of the case being in the archive is insignificant.

Kangeris notes that the loss of the case is rather distressing, because Valmiera Court had previously got rid of KGB cooperation documents, making it impossible to research testimonies. «We wrote about that to the National Archive and different institutions. Things like that should never happen – cases have to be stored and protected,» says Kangeris.

The historian explains that Godmanis’ case is searched in relation to the research project. The court, however, said it is impossible to find. «We believe materials from the court are needed because they contain information about many people and former members of KGB, which is important for our research efforts. Because of this, we urge courts and other institutions to keep documents safe – they must not be destroyed,» Kangeris said.

At the same time, he says that whether or not the case is gone remains unclear, because a more detailed search will help determine if it is really gone.